Page 157 of The Christmas Invitation
River moved to sit next to her on the sofa. ‘Meg is quite right: you were momentarily unhinged, after all the stress of the burden you’d been carrying alone. You must be quite exhausted.’ Then he suggested that when he returned to the Farm, she go with him for a short visit.
‘A change of scene will do you good and you’ll receive a very warm welcome,’ he added.
‘Good idea,’ Tottie endorsed, from Sybil’s other side.
‘I hope you’ll visit us too, in the spring, Tottie,’ River said. ‘Perhaps you and Sybil could come then together.’
‘How nice it is to have no more mysteries and misunderstandings,’ Clara said cheerfully with one of her widest and most Cheshire Cat smiles. ‘Now we can just get back to enjoying Christmas!’
The hour of the Boxing Day drinks party approached, and Den and Teddy already had the preparations well in hand: the long table in the hall had been spread with a white cloth and laden with glasses, jugs of orange juice and bottles of elderflower champagne, chilling in a galvanized pail full of ice.
The gate-leg table in the drawing room would bear the paper napkins, plates and platters of cold nibbles, and Den assured us that the hot ones were ready to pop into the oven, once everyone had arrived.
‘Teddy’s the waiter; ’e’ll ’elp carry them round.’
There was just time to tidy ourselves up, attempt to slip back into our right minds, and assume an appropriate expression, before the first of the guests arrived.
By eleven fifteen the rooms were quite full. There had to be even more people there than had made it to the Gathering. The drive and the snowy road verges were lined with vehicles, ranging from tractors to Land Rovers and the battered open-top truck that belonged to Olive Adcock’s husband.
There were all the farmers from up the valley and their families, a handful of elderly residents from the village that I hadn’t seen before, Bilbo, Flower and the baby, Len Snowball and the Gidneys …
I didn’t see Flora and her entourage arrive and I was circulating Den’s hot ‘volley-vaunts’ among the throng in the hall, when Lex told me that Rollo, with prompting from Flora, was in the drawing room sucking up to Henry and doing what he called ‘a misunderstood young poetic genius’ act.
‘I know that one, but he’s a little too old to carry the role now,’ I said. ‘Where’s Piers?’
‘He was trying to get near Sybil, but Henry took him into his study and when they came out, Piers looked pretty sick. Ishould think he’s gone to find a dark corner to lurk in till it’s time to go.’
After a while, Henry asked everyone to gather together. Those who couldn’t fit in the drawing room crowded round the open door while he raised a toast to Christmas and to old friends, which seemed to mark the official end of the party, because people began to leave.
Clara had been taking her guests into the studio in relays to admire the portraits, and eventually that’s where Lex found me, contemplating his picture.
‘I thought you might be in here. Have you had enough of people?’ he asked anxiously. ‘It’s been one hell of a day and we’re not even halfway through it yet!’
‘I’m all right, though I’m not sure I’ve really taken it all in. But I hope I’ve put Mark’s mind at rest, so that everything carries on exactly like it did before.’
‘I think Zelda took him into the library earlier and talked some sense into him.’ He looked with critical appreciation at his portrait. ‘You’ve certainly caught me … and I could give you a long sitting tomorrow, if you like?’
‘Great,’ I said, my spirits lightening. ‘I hated leaving it even for one day, but there hasn’t been a moment till now, and I feel totally wrung out and exhausted. I suppose I should be helping clear up.’
‘No, Sybil’s expiating her sins in a frenzy of helpfulness, with River and Tottie.’
Someone must have released Pansy from her incarceration in the kitchen, for now she nosed the door open and ran in. I picked her up, somehow soothed and comforted by her warm little body in my arms.
Lex took hold of my shoulders and looked down very seriously at me over her head. ‘Are yousureyou’re all right? You’rehappy to just let go any claim on Underhill, or your real place in the family?’
‘Yes, totally,’ I assured him. ‘I’d like us all to forget that marriage certificate ever existed. It was all a mistake anyway.’
‘You’re a very sweet and kind person, Meg Harkness,’ he said, and after kissing me lightly, let me go and went out of the room.
I escaped upstairs without seeing anyone else and fell asleep on the bed with Pansy, the ultimate comfort blanket.
When I woke up I feltmuchbetter: it was as if the past I’d been told about had been just a play I’d seen, and nothing to do with me. The curtain had fallen and now we could carry on with our lives … wherever they took us.
Mine would presumably be in a little cottage somewhere and I’d only see Lex when I visited the Red House: Clara wasn’t likely to let me escape the family orbit now that she’d found me.
I discovered I was hungry and we went down to find everyone except Zelda and Mark in the drawing room, drinking tea and consuming leftover canapés.
‘There you are, dear,’ said Clara. ‘Lex, Henry and Teddy took Wisty and Lass out for a run earlier, before it got dark, but we thought Pansy must be with you.’
